As N.H. Air Quality Improves, Hillsborough and Cheshire Lag

Most counties in New Hampshire took home high marks for air quality in this year’s “State of the Air” report from the American Lung Association.

Two counties do stand out, however, as lagging behind the rest of the state.

Hillsborough county saw an elevated number of days with high levels of ozone or smog, which is produced primarily by automobile and power plant emissions. The trend generally in Hillsborough county has been toward less smog.

In Cheshire County the problem of particle pollution is actually on the rise. Particulate matter can come from a variety of sources, but the two most prevalent are car tailpipes, and woodstoves and fireplaces.

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"It can cause heart attack and stroke as well as asthma attacks. It can increase the risk of low birth-weight in newborns. It shortens life," says Janice Nolen with the Lung Association.

Nolen says, in general, air quality is improving in New Hampshire, primarily because of cleaner burning diesel engines and less use of coal-fired power plants in the Midwest.

The EPA is proposing stricter emissions standards for wood stoves. Manufacturers would have to build stoves that burn 80 percent cleaner than current models. And for the first time, pellet stoves would be held to the same standards. The EPA says pollution from these heaters is linked to asthma attacks, heart attacks, and stroke.

A new EPA Clean Air standard for wood stoves is set to take effect next year.

It has been 25 years since the EPA wrote the first woodstove regulations. Since the rules were last refreshed, the health hazards from the unburned particles in wood smoke have been researched and quantified. But with the new rules now pending, manufacturers are saying that prices for new stoves will rise, and worry that will result in more people sticking with dirty old stoves.

Starting Thursday residents of Cheshire County can turn in old, inefficient woodstoves for a voucher towards a new cleaner-burning stove.

The vouchers are worth $1,000 towards an EPA certified woodstove, $1,500 towards a pellet or gas stove, or $4,000 towards a new outdoor wood boiler. In all $425,000 worth of vouchers will be given out.

Woodstoves built before 1988 are a lot less efficient and put out a lot more pollution than modern stoves, and since they are essentially big chunks of iron they last a long time.